Tiptoeing Around Petunias
by Charles Basilone
Summary: In Sixth Year, Lily becomes friends with the Marauders, gets some nicknames, and breaks some noses. Rated only because Sirius is a potty mouth. Just a short one shot from a head canon someone shared with me. Please read and review.


Disclaimer: I am not JK Rowling, I don't own anything.

* * *

It's Sixth Year, late in the year, and they've become friends.

It's unbelievable, she knows. Who would have thought last year that at the end of Sixth year, she, Lily Evans, would be friends- good friends- with the Marauders? Her fights with James Potter last year were infamous. It was accepted that if you had not yet seen the gorgeous redhead screaming red-faced at a laughing, tall, messy-haired James Potter, then you had slept through the day. And yet now they were friends. They still fought, but it was less dramatic and more light-hearted now.

And being friends with James Potter means being friends with the rest of the Marauders. She and Remus had already been friends, ever since they became Prefects together at the beginning of last year, but now she was friends with Peter and Sirius, and that was new.

* * *

Sirius and James were walking back from Care of Magical Creatures and just at the entry to the Great Hall when they ran into Lily. It was a bright, relatively warm day, and Sirius and James had been laughing and joking, mock-hitting each other as they walked back. Sirius was the first to spot Lily's long red mane, the sunshine accenting deep red of her hair.

"Hey, Iris!"

Lily rolled her brilliant green eyes and made her way over to the two boys. Of late, that had been Sirius' game, calling her by different flower names. It was a bit irritating, but it was kind of amusing to her, too, so she let it go.

* * *

"OI! Hydrangea!"

Lily turned and saw Sirius and James, both laughing, and affectionately backhanded Sirius while shaking her head.

* * *

"Over here, Daisy!"

* * *

"Attagirl, Hyacinth!"

' _Hyacinth?'_ Lily though, ' _Where the fuck did he get that one? Is he just reading flower books to come up with nicknames, now?'_

* * *

It would be the last time he called her a flower name other than her own, though they didn't know it yet.

It was the very last day of Sixth Year, and they were all out at the lake under the Beech tree, just hanging out. James, Remus and Frank Longbottom had taken off their shirts and were splashing in the warm shallows, the whole group just basking in the warmth and laziness after exams have ended.

She's basking in the sun under the tree, daydreaming about the fact that James is shirtless and that gets her very flustered and distracted, when all of a sudden a hand is being waved in front of her face.

"Hullo... Earth to Petunia..."

CRACK!

"Mother of fucking God, Merlin, Gryffindor and the sweet baby Jesus, Evans! I'm fucking sorry!" Sirius shouts, clutching at his nose, which is at an odd angle and gushing blood...

* * *

Sirius isn't sure why he got punched, or why Evans ran off crying afterwards, but now he's in the hospital wind waiting for Madam Pomfrey to come heal his nose, since she decide he needed to wait until she was done sorting her potions cabinet so that maybe he'll learn a lesson. James walks into the curtained off area, and Sirius, sitting on the bed, looks up.

"What was that about Prongs?"

James, who has become the closest to Lily, closer than even Remus, sighs and plops down in the chair conveniently by Sirius' bed.

"Well Pads, I'm not really sure it's my place to tell, but Lils is pretty upset, and I think you may need to know. I guess I'm just going to have to beg her forgiveness."

At this, Sirius rolls his eyes and makes a go on motion.

James starts to open his mouth and shuts it again. He takes a deep breath, sighs, and leans forward.

"Padfoot, how much do you know about Lils' family?"

"Not much, why?"

James steels himself, knowing how much this will resonate with Sirius, and says a silent prayer to any deity willing to listen that Lily will forgive him for this.

"Padfoot, when Lils was little, she and her sister were incredibly close. As close as we are, maybe even closer. But when Lils was nine, she met Snape. He told her the things she could do were magic, and introduced her to our world. This drove a rift between Lily and her sister. Her sister was envious, I think, of what Lily could do. And so she grew to hate magic. She verbally abuses Lily, and it kills Lily. Every time her sister calls her freak or disparages her is like a stab in the heart. With the growing danger, Lily's started to feel she deserves it. And so Lily hates what her sister has become, and she hurts her in a unique way- not wholly unlike your family, Pads."

"But I still don't understand, Prongs. Why would calling her Petu- Oh. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. She's not gonna forgive me, is she, James?"

"Yeah, she will, Pads. She's stubborn as the devil, but she'll forgive you. You didn't know, after all."

* * *

Lily walked in, eyes a bit red, and sat down next to Sirius, who was sitting on his bed, visibly distraught, and plopped down next to him.

"James said he told you?"

At this, Sirius just nodded. He couldn't believe how much of an ass he'd been.

"You know, Sirius, I'm okay. Yeah, it hurt, but you didn't know. I forgive you."

"I'm sorry, Evans," Sirius said as he pulled her in for a side hug. "I wish I could fix it."

"Me too, Padfoot, me too," Lily said. Sirius smiled weakly, noticing that was the first time she'd ever called him by his nickname.


End file.
